Solace from the Storms
by Koinu Katsuya Shan Seto
Summary: Just by looking at the two, you could tell that they were almost complete opposites. Post KH and during CoM. By the way I started this before I played Com. totally guessed on the whole Riku hates the dark thing. A RS fic.


Hey! Its Koinu back with my first real slash-filled-fic for Kingdom Hearts! (starts singing and no, not to the SpongeBob song) OOOOOOOOOOOOH IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY! Joy is mine!

Picks up Sora and Riku plushies Oh couse your just so cuuuuuuuute ain't ya my little key-blade maters! proceeds to cuddle them

And by the way, just for the sake of flamers takes deep breath **YES THIS IS SHONEN-AI, SLASH, BOY-BOY RELATIONS**, ya know, all that jazz for those of you who missed it in the first real sentence.

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**Solace from the Storms**

Anyone who had met the two would have been able to tell you which one was school smarter, more into philosophical thinking, physically stronger.

Anyone who had met the two would have been able to tell you which one was the always smiling, laughing, laid back one.

Yes, just by looking at the two, you could tell that they were almost complete opposites. Almost. Everyone on the Destiny Islands knew of the miraculous friendship between Riku, who came from one of the wealthier families whose residence was a magnificent manor along a bluff looking over the sea, and Sora, who like most natives lived in a small decent two-floor home nearer to the great water depths.

But they didn't care about their differences, they were happy being who they were, and when they got time alone together away from Kairi. When they were alone together, they could forget about their rivalry, at least until one of them sneakily hit the other in the back with their wooden sword. When they were alone, they didn't have to think of fears they had or hurts that had been caused by one thing or another.  
They were content with one another's' company while they talked of anything and everything or sat in a silence that was never uncomfortable. When they needed something they turned to no one else except the other.

That is why late one night during one of the worst storms, Sora woke from a deep slumber to find a dark, dripping figure above him. Sora gave a yelp and in his surprise rolled out of his bed to land on his butt on the floor.

"No don't kill me," he tried to yell but it only came out in a quiet, raspy from sleep voice. "I'm too young to die!"

A chilly wet hand descended over his mouth.

"Shut up Sora before you wake your parents up," a familiar voice said in his ear, the warm puff of breath that went across his neck and almost bare shoulder made him shiver.

"I'm gonna let you go now, so please try to be quiet."

The hand relinquished its hold on him and Sora saw the silhouette of the person in the moonlight move towards the lamp on his dresser. It was turned on after the person snorted lightly while removing the pair of shorts on it. Sora never had been very clean.

"What's the matter? Did you... Did you have Nightmares again Riku?"

He had known who it was from the moment his friends hand had touched him and had been reassured by the breath on his neck. He had seen the older boy and seemed to have know him even longer, that he knew Riku's body and habits as well as his own. That's why, despite what everyone would believe, it was not Sora who was afraid of thunderstorms.

Sora knew why Riku had gone to the lights almost instantly. It was the simple feeling of security when he could see. Riku always had to be able to see what was going on. And he always wanted to see more.

Riku hated thunderstorms because they were too loud, and they used his precious light to surprise when it decided to show through the clouds for a brief second. Riku liked the quiet, but he hated the dark.

Maybe that is why he was to try so hard to overcome it.

"Just stay still a sec Riku. IÃ¢â‚?„¢ll get you a towel."

Sora got up off the floor to walk to the door.

"You left some clothes here last time and I washed them for you. They should be under my bed in The Box."

The brunet walked into the hallway and quietly shut the door as to not wake his parents.

Meanwhile the silver haired one dropped to his knees to get "The Box" from under the bed. He sighed as he opened, to tired to look through the keepsakes from their childhood that Sora insisted they should keep. "For when we might need them," Sora had said. But it made Riku wonder, "when".

He took the clothes that were folded on the very top and couldn't resist shoving his nose to the fabric. They smelled of Sora, and it was a wonderful sent, a sent of chocolate, sweet fruits, the color blue that not even the deepest ocean nor clearest sky could compare (for nothing could compare to Sora's eyes), but mostly of a kind of blinding light. How Riku could smell those last two things he didn't know but he was sure were there.

As he straightened up he heard the creak of floorboards and the opening of a door. The next thing he knew, a fluffy bright pink towel was thrown at his head.

"That color suits you," he heard Sora giggle near him as started to dry off.

"But you might want to get dressed in your own clothes rather than a pink fuzzy toga."

"Ha ha, very funny Sora. You're a regular court jester." Riku said sarcastically he toweled his hair.

"Oh come on Riku," Sora laughed. "You know you might look even cuter than Kairi."

Riku looked up to look at his younger companion as he pulled up his sweatpants-he already taken off his clothes and left them on the floor (you all thought that Riku is a neat-freak didn't you?)- And pretended to retie the drawstrings as he thought of what to say next.

"Sora how do you feel about Kairi?" he asked haltingly.

"Wha-?" Sora squawked, shocked at the sudden and uncalled for question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Riku clarified as he sat on Sora's bed with a sigh. "What do you believe your relationship is with her?"

Riku just couldn't ask Sora what he wanted their relationship to be.

"Well..." Sora started as walked over the bed to sit on the floor next Riku's feet. "I would do anything for her. She's one of the most important people in my life. "

Riku sighed in defeat. He knew it. Had known it for the longest time, it was there, just scratching against the surface of all his thoughts. Kairi had replaced him. Kairi had taken the spot in Sora's heart, which had once held only him, and most likely more. He should have caught on sooner he thought angrily to himself. He was the one who had always been there for Sora and always would be.

He didn't know that he wouldn't be able to keep that promise for a little less than a year. He didn't want to think of a life without Sora. The brunet had been constant in his life ever since the start of his second year of life. It was a good thing that the boys mothers had been old good friends since Jr. High. Riku had seen the small baby about six hours after his birth. Sora Shindou was born about three weeks before his due date, which resulted to him being small and slightly sickly as a young child.

That was why one of the first things Sora asked his fair-haired friend was if he would be able to teach him to be stronger. That's what had started the deep bond between the two, the want in blue-eyes to have someone his own age accept him, and the desire in sea-green eyes for someone to always be around.

Neither could ask nor rely on their parents for comfort. Riku's father was always away at work (Riku still didn't really know what the hell he did), and his mother was always gone as well. ËœSocial business," she had said. Sora's mother was like a teenager, in fact she had only been 19 when she had found out she was pregnant. She had a part-time job at a hotel on a nearby island and had always wanted Sora to go out and play with other children. But Sora's father, who was a fisherman, wanted his boy to stay home and better himself for a better future than his own (he never wanted to believe that his boy was weak). Whenever he would say that, Kaoru (Sora's mom) would hit him upside the head and would ask what was so bad about being married to the love at your life at 22 (yes they were married when they had Sora), living in a cute house, and having a wonderful young man to show for it. Riku loved Sora's parents as they had all but adopted him. Usually Kaoru would jokingly ask the two friends when would they start planning the wedding and finally make it legal. In response Sora would go beet red and start stuttering while Riku would just turn a light pink while looking down at the ground so no one would see.

"I mean we've known her since the first day she came here ya know."

Riku came out of his mind-fog when he heard Sora start to speak again and lowered his head (he had been staring at the ceiling).

"She's the cliche of the "sister-I-never-had" thing. So I guess I do give her a lot more attention then I would to say Selphie, and I do want her approval of things."

Sora lifted his head to stare right into Riku's eyes. Honest, truth, and trust lie shinning in the cerulean orbs that the older had come to so adore.

"But with you. With you it was never like that. Not that I didn't want your approval. Just the fact that I never thought of you as a brother. But not that that's a bad thing!" he added hastily after seeing the almost invisible confusion and hurt in the otherwise expressionless face of the boy in front of him.

"What I meant was that I don't know. You just always seemed to be more than that to me, ya know," the brunet trailed off laughing slightly. "No. I guess not."

To the revelation Riku had no response. "More than that? he thought. How can I be more than that? What would be more than that besides getting married to him? he chuckled in his head. ËœNext thing you know, I'll be asking him to share a poupu with me."

The two sat in silence for some time. Neither knew exactly when in their conversation Sora had scooted closer to Riku and laid his head on the pajama-clad legs. Nor when Riku had brought his hand to place it on Sora's head, as his fingers shifted through the spiky hair. Suddenly, Sora remembered something that he had asked before.

"Why are you here Riku?" Sora didn't lift his head but instead burrowed closer into the warmth of his friend. For some reason it had always been Riku who was warm to the touch while he, Sora, had always had cold limbs even on the hottest days.

"Did you have another Nightmare? Or was it the storm. And you don't have to lie ya know. We've been doing this for years and I still haven't told anyone, and you know that's a miracle with my big mouth."

"It," Riku started off. Sora was surprised to hear his voice so unsure. It also kind of scared him. Had the silver-haired boys dreams really gotten so bad?

"It was both. Actually, I should thank the storm couse it woke me up but... Sora I hate to tell ya this but they have gotten worse. The Nightmares I mean. It terrified me. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life."

"Was it the one where we're standing on the Poupu Island?" Sora asked curiously. "The one where I run up to you and ask where Kairi is? ...I remember you told me something about a door, and your hand reaching out for me, and then the Darkness."

"No Sora," Riku said shaking his head. His hand had stopped its path along Sora's chestnut hair and now just lay on of top it. When Riku started to speak again, Sora realized it had been shaking because the shaking became subtly harder.

"It was me. All of what I saw had me in it. You were there sometimes, more than not actually. But I- I was doing the most horrible things. I hurt people and used them in horrible ways. And I saw us fight Sora. Against one another. I saw that in those moments that I hated you. Once I even saw Kairi laying on the floor as we fought in this huge room that looked like it was in a castle. I think during that match I hated you the most. But in the end. ...In the end you beat me and I disappeared. I don't know where I went. But the next thing I knew, you were holding the sword I had been fighting with and-"

Riku, during his retelling gradually would shake harder. When he broke off, he slid to the floor and pulled Sora into the tightest hug the younger had ever been in. It seemed to Sora as if Riku wanted to hold him forever. And Sora would have been perfectly happy like that. But he had to ask. He knew that Riku had to say whatever it was that he now knew had been pushing at him since his friend had climbed through his window.

"What happened Riku?" Sora asked as he raised his hands to rub them up and down the shaking back of the one who held him.

Sora had the awareness to know that Riku might actually break down and cry, cry, as he hadn't in years. Sora still remembered the last day Riku had cried because then, like now, he had been the only one to witness it. He had been five, Riku six, and it had happened one night when there had also been a storm. Knowing Riku as well as he did, Sora knew that Riku must have been on the way to his house as soon as the first bolt of lightning had struck. So little Sora bundle up to protected himself against the harsh wind and walked outside.

Not even after ten minutes of walking did he see a figure a little bit bigger than himself running towards him. He walked faster as he saw who he knew was Riku, trip and fall onto his face and hands that he had thrown out to stop the fall. Sora had helped his friend up and walked him back to his own small house. There, Riku had explained that he had been running because he had wanted to get out of the stormÃ¢â‚?¦ and of the dark (for Riku hadn't started getting the Nightmares until he was about ten or eleven). Riku had cried more out of fear that night than of injury. Sora remembered it had been that night that Riku had promised to never be scared of anything again. Riku had said that since because he was the oldest he should protect Sora from bad things, not the other way around.

Suddenly Riku pulled Sora even closer to himself and the blue-eyed one felt the telltale drops of water on his shoulder where the older teen had buried his head.

"Sora you- You committed suicide! You stabbed yourself with my sword. Then turned into six crystal things! But then this glowing heart come out of you and went into to Kairi!" Riku sobbed even harder. "You- You dissapered in all this sparkly stuff and I heard someone yell "Sora! Come back Sora!".

Sora was shocked and didn't really know what to make of all that. All he knew was that somehow; he had to make Riku better. So he grabbed the shuddering boy by the shoulder and forced him to look him in the face.

"Look Riku. I don't really know if this will happen, but with how often you've been seeing these I don't feel as if I should doubt them." He paused as he wiped Riku's cheeks free of tears. "But if by some way or reason this does happen, I want you to know that I could never hate you, and that even after that I would come back. I would come back...to apologize."

Riku stared at him in confusion. "You? Why would you need to apologize after I had done all that to you?"

Sora hung his head as if in shame. "Because I know if you were to get mad at me it would be my fault and no one else's. I- I would come back. I would come back just to find only you. And then we would become the most important people in each others lives again."

Riku stared at the thirteen year old in front of him and wondered when had he gotten so strong. He looked over his best-friends face. It still held the roundness of a young child's, yet also showed the straightening of his jaw and the slight lift of his cheekbones that was coming along with Sora's body changing. The skin was almost as flawless as his own, except for a few blemishes he was starting to get and a smug of dirt that must have been there since the boy had fell on his face during training. But of course in normal character, he had laughed it off. The not-quite almond shape of his eyes that made them seem bigger and gave off that 'Love me. I'm so cute and adorable you just have to love me' look. And many did love him for them. After the eyes, Riku trailed his gaze to the lips. They were a bit thinner than he remembered and chapped from the ocean winds but broader than his own. Sora's mouth was made for large smiles when he was happy, and pouts for when he was upset or being stubborn.

When Riku saw these lips, an overpowering urge came upon him. He needed to touch them. Not like when he would cover them with a hand to make the boy shut up or to wipe so left over food from them (Sora's a messy eater), but to touch them with his own. The older one couldn't explain it. He just had to do it. Because somewhere in the back of his mind he thought that if he didn't do it sometime soon then he never would, and then, he would lose him to the Darkness he saw so often in his dreams.

Sora tilted his head in confusion at his friends prolonged silence. A pout started to form on his lips. That's when Riku knew he had to do it now.

"Promise me," he said as he slowly leaned forward. "That you wont forget me. That you will try to find me. Please promise me. Promise that you won't leave me to the Dark."

Before Sora had a chance to answer, he felt Riku's lips fall onto his own. And he felt... He felt as if he had come home. From where or for how long he had been away he couldn't say. All he knew was that he lived for Riku. He had to live for him, for now Sora felt that without Riku, he would never be whole again.

Through his thoughts, he felt strong arms wrap around his waist, pulling him closer to the warmth he was quickly becoming addicted to. So, Sora felt that logically, he should be even closer to this warmth. He lifted his long, thin arms to lie on Riku's shoulders. He did not pull Riku closer for some insane thought entered his mind that he shouldn't pull the silver hair. But that was quickly forgotten when he felt slender fingers brush against the hem of his tank-top and then slither under it to caress his spine. The hands went up and down in a way that was enticing to the both of them, and Sora pulled away from the kiss to lean his head back and let out a small happy sigh. To Riku, it was the most thrilling and intoxicating thing he had ever seen so far in his life of fourteen years.

He leaned even closer, aligning their chests together, to lick at his friends neck. He felt Sora shiver deliciously in his arms. Riku kissed the column of Sora's throat and smirked against it.

Suddenly Sora pulled away, and when he looked at his best friends face he quickly brought his hands up to cover his mouth, trying to smother his laughing. He laughed even harder when Riku asked him what was wrong.

"You-hahaha-your pouting-heehee-gasp-. You never pout."

Sora stopped his giggles. One hand fell to his lap while the other moved to tuck a strand of hair that had been in Riku's face behind his ear. Then he grabbed one of Riku's hands as he stood.

"Come on you," he said, now tugging at the arm. "We might as well go to sleep now." The brunet brought up his small to cover his mouth just as he gave a huge yawn. "I'm gettin sleepy."

Riku stood with a small smile, sat on the bed, and quickly scooted back to lean against the headboard while still holding Sora's hand. By some unspoken agreement when Sora also climbed onto the bed, Riku spread his legs for Sora to sit. Without thinking, the younger boy quickly sat between them and cuddled into the older one, curled up to the warm chest with his head tucked under a strong chin. Already he felt his eyelids beginning to droop. When he felt Riku nuzzle the top of his head, he purred deep in his throat and gave a soft contented sigh, which then protruded the same way from the mouth above him. The two felt at peace. Sora was asleep in about 30 seconds. He had felt so much love, warmth, kindness, and friendship radiate from Riku. He was happy, and that night he dreamed of nothing but Riku and squishy marshmallows (that reminded his of his new pillow anyway, aka: Riku).

Much later, Riku clutched Sora even closer to him as he drifted off into the darkness he was so afraid of. He felt his lips move against the top of Sora's hair without his permission. His voice came out to form words that scared him. Words that in order to be true, would have to come after something bad had happened. Could these words really be true? Would he have to do without Sora? Maybe for the rest of his life? For there was no guarantee that they would both still be in Sora's bed, in this embrace, in the morning.

"Walking this road  
Without you  
To remake forgotten promises  
And meet you at roads end"

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A/N: I noticed that I had them saying "ya" a lot when I got around to adding more the third time around. I guess it was there subconsciously couse I had just started playing FF10 over and I was up to Besaid. Poor Wakka and his fellows Besaidions with their weird but oh-so-funny accents. And another thing, NEVER LEAVE MAKE-OUT SCENES IN THE MIDDLE OF THEM! Holy shit was it sucky to have to stop in the middle and the almost 2 months later try to go back to it. I totally lost what I had wanted to write. And if it seems as if the last few paragraphs were rushed, its because they were. No matter what I just couldn't get back into the feel of it. Oh well. Maybe I'll come back to this some time in the future and put more effort into the ending. And no, I did not come up with what Riku says at the end. It is a direct quote from CoM after you beat Reverse/Rebirth or "Riku's game". It's right before you see the pic of the BHK (I really hope you all know who I'm talking about)! YAAAAAAAY BHK! NOW GO PRESS THAT REVIEW BUTTON. Please? And also check out my other two KH fics, "That was then and this is now" which is from Kairi's POV, and "Finding my light" which is Riku's POV. Everyone loves Riku! 'Specially Sora.


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